Angolan police raid weekly's office, seize computers

New York, March 12, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists
condemns today's Angolan police raid at the independent weekly Folha 8, which was conducted in
connection with a politicized investigation into the publication of a satirical
photo montage. Officers confiscated all of Folha
8's computers, effectively crippling the operations of one of the country's
two remaining independent publications.

About
15 officers of the Angolan National Directorate of Criminal Investigations
arrived at the Luanda offices of Folha 8
at around 1 p.m., the paper's editor-in-chief, Fernando Baxi, told CPJ. The
officials took away about 20 computers from the newsroom, António Setas, the
paper's deputy director, told CPJ. Officials also forced Baxi to remove the
battery of his cell phone during the seizure to prevent him from communicating
with anyone, Setas said.

In
an interview with the
Portugal-based news agency LUSA today, Folha
8 editor William Tonet said the raid was connected to a public prosecutor's
December 2011 criminal investigation into the paper's re-publication of an
Internet photo montage lampooning President José Eduardo dos Santos, Vice
President Fernando Piedade Dias dos Santos, and Gen. Manuel Helder Vieira Dias
Júnior Kopelipa, the military adviser to the president. No formal charges in
the investigation have been filed, but the newspaper's computers could be used
as evidence against them in the case, local journalists told CPJ.

CPJ
obtained a copy of the search and seizure warrant signed by Public Prosecutor
João Vemba Coca, which called on Angolan police to seize all computers and tools
used to commit "acts that constitute the crime of outrage against the
state, the person of the president, and
the organs of the executive." Folha
8 has reported on government corruption and has also covered the recent
anti-government protests challenging Dos
Santos' 32 years of rule, according to CPJ research. Without its computers, the paper is
unable to publish.

"The seizure of Folha 8's computers is a crude act of censorship
meant to silence one of the few remaining independent news outlets in Angola,"
said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. "Satire is not an outrage
against the state--it's an important part of robust debate in a free society. We
call on authorities to return Folha 8'sequipment at once and put an end to
this politically motivated investigation."

Journalists
at Folha 8 have been targeted before.
In October 2011, authorities handed Tonet
a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 10 million kwanza
(US$105,000), which he is still appealing. The journalist had written stories
alleging corruption and abuse of power
by five senior officials close to Dos Santos, according to local journalists.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This alert has been modified to reflect that Tonet was
given a one-year suspended prison sentence and a 10 million kwanza fine in
October 2011, not 2010.